The country's largest agro-conglomerate Charoen Pokphand Foods Plc (CPF) said its net profit for the whole year rose by 17% to 18.79 billion baht, in its report to the Stock Exchange of Thailand.
Bloomberg News Agency reported that CPF's net profit was lower than the 20.2 billion-baht average estimate of 22 analysts surveyed by Bloomberg.
The company said total expenses rose 83% to 355.3 billion baht in 2012. The company is expanding farms and animal feed plants in China and other Asian countries to boost earnings. In November, it blamed lower prices for meat products and higher raw material costs for a 53% dip in third-quarter profit to 2.4 billion baht. Its fourth quarter net profit plunged to 238 million baht.
CPF recorded 357.17 billion baht of sales in 2012, up 73% year-on-year, driven by growing business in emerging markets and food businesses.
CPF, owned by Thai billionaire Dhanin Chearavanont, said its goal is to achieve 700 billion baht of annual sales within the next five years, double its performance in 2012, for an average annual growth of 10-15%.
Adirek Sripratak, CPF's president and CEO, said that the company faced volatility in the world economy and in many countries, along with many external factors that challenged to the agro-industrial and food business in 2012. These factors had prompted meat oversupply and caused meat prices to drop significantly since the beginning of 2012.
He said the rising price of raw materials for animal feed production resulting from the drought in the US in the late third quarter had also led to higher production costs for meat and the loss of meat producers.